ORLANDO, Fla. – Seven countries, 13 cities and more than 22,000 miles. The Emmy-award winning series, “The Amazing Race,” has a new winner.
If you haven’t seen the season finale yet, refrain from reading the rest of this article.
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SPOILER ALERT!
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It was Penn and Kim Holderness who took the win and the $1 million prize! Watching the show, Kim may have looked familiar to you because she is a former reporter at News 6.
The couple has been back home for several months, having to keep their win a secret until the final episode aired.
“It still does not feel real. It felt real when we were able to watch it with our kids,” Kim said.
“Crossing the finish line was an unbelievably euphoric feeling. Being able to share it with our family was something we’ll always remember,” Penn said.
Penn and Kim Holderness beat out 10 other teams to win the 33rd season of “The Amazing Race.”
“My biggest takeaway from somebody who has ADHD, is if you can focus on just one thing. If you can just shut everything else out, it’s amazing what you can accomplish and I’m taking it back with me in real life. During the race, it was really just one thing: no phones, no internet, there was one thing, this race,” Penn said.
Kim also learned life lessons during the competition.
“I am a recovering perfectionist, I like things perfect and I want to wait until it’s perfect to do it and I learned that it’s never going to be perfect, just do it,” Kim said.
This season was unlike any other. Filming began in February 2020 and after three legs, it was put on hold for 18 months due to COVID-19. The longest pit stop in the show’s history.
“During COVID we were busier than normal. We were creating silly videos, our kids were doing virtual school so we didn’t have that much time to get ready physically, but the work we did was on our communication,” Kim said.
They would resume the competition, crossing the finish line first. After watching the big win play out on TV, we had to ask what the couple planned to do with the $1 million prize.
“Taxes ... college ... I got to fix my wife’s car. I was so stressed about this show, I backed into her car in the driveway, so I have to get a new car door. We have plans to share it, and we’ll have those details later on. It’s going to be life changing in that our kids will go to college, hopefully, debt free which is huge and that’s a life change right there,” Penn and Kim said.
Both Penn and Kim spent time working in Orlando. Kim, working as a reporter here at News 6. She said her time working in news may have given her the most useful tools to win “The Amazing Race.”
“My time as a reporter, especially as a local news reporter in Orlando. My job was to sit in the passenger seat, before Google Maps, with the city map book. I had to navigate the photographer to the story of the day. Being able to read the map under pressure, that won the race for us more or less,” Kim said.
The couple expects to release a book soon about how they’ve been able to navigate their differences and resolve conflicts in their relationship. They also gave a shoutout to Kim’s mom who lives in Apopka. She watched their two kids while they were taping the show and are so grateful for the support.